I came upon an interesting article on Destructoid recently, titled "Rehashes, sequels and the people who crave them," in which the author laments that while many people complain about the lack of unique and original games out there, they are only too eager to jump for joy at the announcement of a re-release of a ten-year old game in Marvel vs. Capcom 2.

"Sequels and remakes are what capture our imaginations, not imagination itself," the article reads. "We want to be fed the same thing over and over again. That's why we're going nuts over what is essentially Capcom's exploitation of our mindless nostalgia, and why fresh IP is left by the wayside in order to pursue a quick rehash."

In short, it implies-- correction, it says flat-out that the lack of original titles is entirely our fault.

Of course, I'll plead guilty to that to some degree. After all, I'll openly admit that New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and Metroid: Other M are some of the titles which will help keep me invigorated for another year or so.

And that's not all; there's fare like Tatsunoko vs. Capcom (which is basically part of the Marvel vs. Capcom series mentioned above, minus the Marvel), Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing (which is basically looking like a rehash of Mario Kart), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Smash Up (in all of its Smash Bros.-like glory).

So, yes, I definitely have a thing for the types of games the writer speaks of, while I honestly have not given much-- if any-- thought to titles such as Raskulls, Hellion: Mystery of the Inquisition, Venetica, or Edge of Twilight.

A big part of this is human nature. We like to be comfortable, and comfort comes with familiarity. We know where we are with a sequel to a popular game, and can easily assess whether or not that's something we want to invest in. It's obvious that Halo 4 or Gears of War 3 will get attention, and I don't begrudge those games the interest they deserve. It's just a wretched shame that we can't be bold enough to invest our time in something that might not be a guaranteed hit as well. Sure, it's a risk. Some new games could become the next Castle Crashers, but some could become the next X-Blades. It's worth paying attention and getting in on the ground floor with these games either way, though. You just don't know what could turn out brilliantly.

Here's where I find that it's a little funny, as Halo and Gears of War make for interesting examples. Neither series is all that old; Halo debuted in 2001 on the original Xbox, making it less than ten years old. Compared to such franchises as Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, and Final Fantasy, it's rather young.

And Gears of War, which debuted in 2006 on the Xbox 360, is even younger still. And yet, people had to take notice of these newer, original titles in order for them to become the franchises we know them as today, upon which sequel after sequel is built.

Likewise, I deliberately omitted two upcoming games I am looking forward to from my list above: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle and Red Steel 2. Sequels both, they are also quite young, and I'll admit that it took an article in Nintendo Power before I paid any attention to the first No More Heroes prior to its release.

Other titles which have not been around very long seem to be making names for themselves as well: Uncharted, Fable, Mirror's Edge, Phoenix Wright, and Dead Space all seem to be breaking through the supposed glass ceiling which is said to divide the new and the old. And as a result, they're all in line for (or have already had)-- you guessed it-- sequels.

And, just to top it all off, I have made no secret of my desire to play Disaster: Day of Crisis on the Wii, which was unfortunately never released here. Likewise, I wish something had come of Project H.A.M.M.E.R.

I should probably add that Bionic Commando, which I've spent quite some time looking forward to, hasn't exactly lit the sales charts on fire (though its prequel/rehash of the original did better).

Where am I going with all of this? Basically, I think that a lot of it isn't quite so much about people not being as interested in original properties; as we've seen, there are plenty which have done well and beget sequels and rehashes as a result of that interest. I think it boils down to a few other factors instead.

First, word of mouth. Forums, press, whatever; it seems that more time will be spent talking about what people know and are familiar with than an untested commodity, including the application of knowledge of past iterations towards the conversation and hype at hand. Until a new title comes out, you pretty much know only as much as the developer is willing to divulge. And when you're already familiar with what a game series is about, it becomes that much easier to speculate and create rumors about what will come next.

Second is marketing. It seems that publishers (with some exceptions) are more willing to make sure that people know that the follow-up to their much-beloved game is coming, is out, and is so much more than they can imagine.

Finally (for the purposes of this blog post, anyway; feel free to expand upon this in the comments), I think a major factor is money. Familiar sequels and remakes of a favored game are usually considered "safer bets" than the unknown and the untested. Even if you've read everything there is about a new idea that's yet to come out, there remains that feeling of the unknown, room for doubt.

A lot of us don't have quite that much money to spend on mistakes, so we have to be careful with how we spend it, and usually, getting more of something we love simply sounds like a safer investment.

It's not always true, of course, but sequels often made with the idea of "bigger and better" than their predecessors; who really hears an announcement about a new sequel to a favorite game, and thinks that it will be less than what they've come to expect from those in the series which came before?

Nonetheless, despite all of this, it can indeed be a good idea to keep an open mind about something you're unfamiliar with. As long as we keep doing that, I don't think the spawning of new franchises and ideas will stop any time soon.

After all, every series was a new game once.